At a glance
- What it is: a project of several tools and technologies. FLUTE and ROUTE deliver files and media objects in one direction, from a sender to receivers, over UDP/IP; CMMF is agnostic to the transport.
- Technologies: FLUTE, ROUTE and CMMF. Each has its own page below.
- Tools: a FLUTE library, a FLUTE conformance validator, a CMMF encoder, a media origin server and packager, and a reference media application.
Technologies
| Technology | What it is | Page | Repositories |
|---|---|---|---|
| FLUTE | File Delivery over Unidirectional Transport, built on ALC, with an in-band File Delivery Table. Three profiles: unprofiled, MBMS download and MBS Object Distribution. | FLUTE, with its architecture and features | FLUTE Protocol and Profiles (rt-libflute), FLUTE Conformance Validator |
| ROUTE (RFC 9223, April 2022) | Delivers application objects, including objects with real-time constraints, over unidirectional transport. Aligned with FLUTE and with the MBMS extensions; supports low-latency streaming. TS 26.346 and TS 26.517 do not use it. | ROUTE | The MBMS Client with ROUTE support, see the tutorials |
| CMMF (ETSI TS 103 973) | A container format for coded multisource media, agnostic to the transport. Its annex D specifies content delivery protocol instantiations, one of them based on a File Delivery Table. | CMMF | CMMF Encoder (rt-cmmf-encoder) |
Tools
The repositories of this project, which implement, package and test the technologies above.
Early Access: available to members first
FLUTE Protocol and Profiles
rt-libflute-0.12.42026-09-01 · 10w agort-libfluteno release yet
no release yet
no release yet
How it grew
- 2002 to 2004: ALC (RFC 3450) and LCT (RFC 3451) in December 2002, then FLUTE version 1 (RFC 3926) in October 2004, all Experimental (RFC 3450 header; RFC 3451 header; RFC 3926 header).
- MBMS, from Release 6: TS 26.346 extends the FLUTE FDT with its own schema extensions, one set per release that added to them: Releases 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 13 and 19.
- 2012: FLUTE version 2 (RFC 6726), Standards Track (RFC 6726 header).
- Release 16: the MBMS Download Delivery Profile is updated (TS 26.346 V16.0.0).
- Release 17: a feature-reduced FLUTE FDT schema is added to TS 26.346 V17.1.0; TS 26.517 is created, with the Object Distribution Method (V17.0.0, June 2022), based on the MBMS download delivery method (work item 5MBP3, TR 21.917 clause 6.3.4.3.3).
- 2022: ROUTE (RFC 9223), an Informational RFC (RFC 9223 header (Category: Informational, April 2022)).
- Release 19: in-session unicast repair for object distribution, in both TS 26.346 V19.2.0 and TS 26.517 (V19.0.0 and V19.1.0, Advanced Media Delivery); the release description lists CMMF (ETSI TS 103 973) among the Advanced Media Delivery stage 3 items (TR 21.919 clause 11.6).
- CMMF: ETSI TS 103 973 V1.1.1 in October 2024, V1.2.1 in March 2026 and V1.2.2 in May 2026.
The Technology pages describe FLUTE and its three profiles at Release 19: TS 26.346 V19.3.0 and TS 26.517 V19.3.0.
The slide deck below introduces the content delivery protocols in scope; download the file for the full detail.
Sources for this page
- ROUTE and CMMF: RFC 9223, header and section 1.1; ETSI TS 103 973 V1.2.2, clauses 1 and 4.0 and annex D. "ROUTE" does not occur in TS 26.346 V19.3.0 or TS 26.517 V19.3.0.
- How it grew: the RFC headers; TS 26.346 V19.3.0, clause 7.2.10.1 (listing 7.2.10-1, the imported extension schemas) and change history (CRs 0624, 0661 and 0677); TS 26.517 V19.3.0, change history (V17.0.0 under change control in June 2022; CRs 0031 and 0036 for V19.0.0 and V19.1.0); ETSI TS 103 973 V1.2.2, History.
- The sources of the FLUTE material are on the FLUTE page.
Related: Standards: Content Delivery Protocols and Tools · Standards: CMMF (Multisource Delivery) · Reference Tools: Content Delivery Protocols and Tools · Media delivery over 5G Broadcast and Media delivery over 5G Multicast Broadcast Services: the delivery systems these transports run over